Optimizing Thermo-Hydraulic Performance in Heat Exchanger with Gradient and Multi-Layered Porous Foams

Syed Murawat Abbas Naqvi*, Qiuwang Wang, Muhammad Waqas, Ranjeetkumar Gupta, Faisal Rafique

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In this study, the effect of gradient and multi-layered porous media is assessed for the optimized properties and arrangement in the tested novel baffle design arrangement, which results in further enhancement in its thermo-hydraulic performance. The computational study is carried out using ANSYS FLUENT; wherein the permeability and porosity for each layer is varied. It’s executed in two steps: case 1–porous layers with variations implemented (constant, linear/stepwise, increasing/decreasing) and case 2–porosity varied over the length. The findings show that the linear/stepwise increments in both cases give almost similar performance evaluation criteria (PEC) values. The increase in heat transfer rate and pressure drop can be compared using PEC, for better evaluation of the performance of different arrangements. With the simulation data genetic algorithm optimization model is used to find the optimal arrangement of the porous layers for both cases to maximize PEC further. The optimal arrangement for case 1 and case 2 taken individually, gives PEC of 2.425 and 2.401 respectively. And their simultaneous optimization gives highest PEC of 2.508. Additionally, to improve the heat transfer rate further, Al2O3 (5 w/v %) nanoparticles in water is tested with optimized conditions, which improves the PEC by almost double magnitude.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)751-765
Number of pages15
JournalHeat Transfer Engineering
Volume44
Issue number8
Early online date11 Jun 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 Apr 2023

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes

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